Costco chicken salad again linked to illness

Costco Wholesale Corp.’s rotisserie chicken salad is again the subject of a USDA investigation, this time as the possible cause of four salmonella illnesses in Washington.

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued a health alert out of an abundance of caution for rotisserie chicken salad sold at Costco’s Lynnwood, Wash., store on Aug. 26, Aug. 31 and Sept. 2. Although three of the four sickened indicated consuming Costco’s chicken salad, no product has tested positive for the specific strain of salmonella associated with the illnesses. The investigation is ongoing.

Last November, Costco’s rotisserie chicken salad was linked to 19 E. coli illnesses in seven states. The culprit in that outbreak was likely the Taylor Farms Pacific celery and onion diced blend used as an ingredient in the chicken salad.